Strawberry Cake layered with Peanut Butter Swiss Meringue Buttercream and Homemade Strawberry Compote.
Hi all, Ami here! Today I am sharing with you the cake I made for my daughter’s 2nd birthday. I love it when I get to make cakes for family or close friends, especially when I have free range. Being able to create something special for that person is what I love most about baking and cake decorating. Picking a theme and cake flavor for our little girl was very easy. She has a pink kitty lovey she is in love with and sleeps with every night so I went with a pink kitty themed party. Luckily for us she is not a very picky eater, but there are a few items she loves more than anything. One of them being peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We pretty much always have Uncrustables in our freezer at any given time and it got to a point where anytime she saw us go near the freezer she would run into the kitchen yelling PB PB PB!!!!! Even if she just ate, she would see a PB and HAVE to have it. And that is how I landed on a peanut butter and jelly flavored cake.
When deciding on a PB&J cake I knew exactly how I wanted to execute it. While searching this cake flavor most cakes I found had a peanut butter cake with strawberry filling, but peanut butter cake just wasn’t speaking to me. I am sure it is amazing, but our little girl loves berries so a strawberry cake was more fitting. Plus, it’s a pink kitty cake so of course the inside has to be pink! I also wanted to be able to highlight the peanut butter in the buttercream because peanut butter buttercream is so good! We typically do an American peanut butter buttercream, but this time I wanted to try something different and go with swiss meringue. Swiss meringue is much lighter and less sweet than American buttercream which I thought would pair well with a light strawberry cake. If you are not a fan of swiss meringue than you can definitely make this cake with an American buttercream. Both will taste amazing! Lastly, a PB&J cake wouldn’t be complete without the “J” so I made a homemade strawberry compote to layer with the buttercream.
This was such a fun cake to make and even more fun to decorate. I mean, how cute is this pink kitty cake!!!
Stay tuned for a post with all the party details. Thank you for following along. If you make this recipe or any other recipe we would love to hear what you think. Comment below and give us a follow on Instagram or Facebook. Happy baking!
Recipe tips:
- We recommend making the strawberry puree that goes in the cake and the strawberry compote in advance, preferably the day before. They both will need time to chill.
- We use powdered peanut butter in the swiss meringue buttercream. Swiss meringue is a lot more delicate and lighter than an American buttercream which we would use creamy peanut butter in. You can try and use actual peanut butter in a swiss meringue, but it’s not something we have done. It would probably leave you with a very thin buttercream making it difficult to fill and frost your cake. If you do try this we would love to hear how it turned out.
- The buttercream recipe below will be enough to fill and frost a three layer cake, but if you want to decorate the cake similar to how I did then you will need another half batch of buttercream.
Strawberry Cake
Ingredients
- 1 pound fresh strawberries hulled
- 3-3/4 cups sifted cake flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1-1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup butter
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 3oz package strawberry Jell-O
- 7 egg whites
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 3/4 cup milk
Instructions
- First make the reduced strawberry puree and let cool completely. We recommend making this the day before.To make the reduced strawberry puree, puree 1 pound of strawberries in a food processor. Transfer to a sauce pan and cook over medium-low heat until its reduced by almost half. This will take 30 min or so. Puree will thicken up more once cooled. Store in an air tight container in the frig.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease three 8-inch cake pans.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar and Jell-O on high until smooth.
- Scrape down the bowl then add the egg whites and mix on high until combined.
- Add the sour cream and vanilla and mix until combined.
- With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and the milk, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Scrape down the bowl as needed and mix until just combined.
- Fold in 3/4 cups of the strawberry puree until combined.
- Divide the batter evenly into the pans and bake for approximately 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean with a few crumbs.
Peanut Butter Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup egg whites about 6 large eggs
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 cups unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup powdered peanut butter possibly more
Instructions
- Place the egg whites and sugar in a heat proof bowl. We prefer to use the metal bowl of our stand mixer.
- Fill a pot smaller than your bowl with a couple inches of water and bring to a boil. Once boiling turn down to a simmer and set the bowl on the pot to create a double boiler. Continuously stir the egg whites and sugar until the sugar has fully dissolved or the temperature reaches 160 degrees on a candy thermometer.
- Transfer the bowl to a stand mixer fitter with the whisk attachment and mix on high until the mixture holds stiff peaks, about 8-10 minutes.
- While the meringue is mixing cut the butter into 1 inch cubes. If you have not already melted your chocolate you will need to do so at this time.
- When the meringue forms stiff peaks continue mixing on high and add the butter one cube at a time. Once all the butter has been added, mix in all the vanilla. After the vanilla has been added continue mixing on high for 5 minutes to create your silky smooth buttercream.
- Add the powdered peanut butter and mix until fully incorporated. Taste and add more if you want a stronger peanut butter flavor.
Strawberry Compote
Ingredients
- 1 lb strawberries quartered
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tbsp lemon zest
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp cold water
Instructions
- In a medium sauce pan combine the strawberries, sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice.
- Cook over medium heat stirring occasionally until the strawberries are soft and the juices start to boil.
- Remove from heat and puree in a food processor or blender.
- In a small bowl mix the cornstarch and cold water until very smooth.
- Return the pureed strawberries to the sauce pan and add the cornstarch mixture. Cook on low until thickened.
- Transfer to a heat proof container and chill in the refrigerator. Sauce will thicken more as it cools.
Notes
For the Peanut butter frosting did you really use 6 sticks of butter? When I put the fourth stick my nice creamy thick consistency turned a bit soupy.
Hi Karen,
Yes, 6 sticks (3 cups) of butter is correct. Swiss meringue will do this and it is very common. When you have almost all the butter in it starts to turn sloppy, but keep mixing and it will transform into a nice silky buttercream. Let us know how it turns out!
Hi! I am planning to make this cake for my nieces birthday. I only bake for family and friends, so still an amateur. Can you please tell me the layering of the cake – is it cake, compote and then buttercream? And then how did you get the pink color outside? Thank you.
Hello! Between each cake layer is a layer of peanut butter buttercream and jam. Make sure to keep the jam layer thin and a couple inches away from the edge so it doesn’t ooze out when you’re staking the cake. We will typically do the layer of buttercream first and then put a dam or rim of buttercream around the edge of the cake and then put the jam inside that. We colored the buttercream on the outside with pink gel food coloring. Hope this answers your questions.